Bolster assembly

ABSTRACT

A support bolster for a vehicle body providing lateral and longitudinal stability for a vehicle body mounted thereon.

United States Patent Eggert, Jr.

1 BOLSTER ASSEMBLY [72] Inventor:

Valley, Pa.

73 Assignee: The Budd Company, Philadelphia,

221 Filed: N6v.3,1969

21 Appl.No.: 873,423

[52] US. Cl. ..254/7 R, 254/89 R, 254/103 [51] Int. Cl... ..B60p 1/10, B66f 7/12, B66f 3/18 [58] Field of Search.....254/2, 7, 89 R, 99, 103, 93 L;

[56] Referenees Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,926,888 3/1960 Schultz..... ..2s4/2.4

Walter S. Eggert, Jr., Huntingdon [151 3,685,796 [451 Aug. 22, 1972 12/1960 Carnesetal ..254/2.4 11/1970 Herrin'g.....L ..l87/25 FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS -,499,00o /1939 GreatBritain..,....;....l87/8.41

Primary Examiner-Othell M. Simpson Attorney-Stowe"&Stowe1l 57 ABSTRACT A support bolster for a vehicle body providing lateral and longitudinal stability for a vehicle body mounted thereon.

10 Claim, 7 Drawing Figures PATENTED M1822 I972 SHEET 1 UF 3 l l l r l l I I l i INVENTOR.

v WcMerSEggerUr. BY

ATTORNEY BOLSTER ASSEMBLY This invention relates to a vehicle support structure and more particularly to a bolster construction for supporting a vehicle body and providing a laterally and longitudinally stabilized vehicle.

Generally, a rectangularly shaped vehicle body is supported at the four corners or in some instances a triangular support is provided. It is an object of this invention to provide a novel two column or mast support system for a rectangular vehicle body that provides lateral and longitudinal stability.

The bolsters supporting the vehicle body are positioned about the masts and extend laterally therefrom. Prior to mounting the vehicle body on the bolsters, they are aligned and leveled to provide a suitable bed for the body. Resilient rollers are mounted on the bolsters and positioned to bear against the mast to stabilize the bolster. Another object of this invention is to provide a bolster for supporting a vehicle bodyon a mast and providing lateral and longitudinal stability by the contacts with the mast. I

These and other objects of this invention will be seen as reference is made to the following specification and drawing wherein:

FIG. 1 is a sectional side view of a vehicle support structure, with portions cut away, showing a pair of novel bolsters mounted on a twin mast support and showing the vehicle body in phantom lines;

FIG. 2 is an isometric view of the twin masts, main beam and bolsters mounted thereon of the support structure;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged isometric view, with section broken off, of a bolster mounted on a mast;

FIG. 4 is a view of the bolster substantially along line 44 of FIG. 3 in the direction of the arrows, for showing a cross-section of the bolster structure;

FIG. 5 is a view substantially along line 5-5 of FIG. 1 in the direction of the arrows, illustrating the position of the upper rollers for lateral stability;

FIG. 6 is a view substantially along line 66 of FIG. 1, in the direction of the arrows, showing the position of the lower rollers for providing lateral and longitudinal stability;

FIG. 7 is an enlarged view of the circled area 7 of FIG. 6 showing the mounting of a roller.

Referring now to the drawings, as best seen in FIG. 1, a vehicle body 10, shown in phantom lines, is supported on frame 12 by a pair of bolster assemblies 14.

The vehicle frame 12 includes a main central beam 16 having masts or lifting posts 18 connected to each end and extending vertically therefrom. The frame 12 is mounted on wheels 20 for moving the vehicle from.

place to place and drive shafts 22 are connected to a reversible power source 24 for moving the supporting bolster assemblies 14 vertically along the masts 18 to adjust the height of the vehicle body 10. The vertical adjustment is accomplished by having the threaded vertical drive shafts 22 cooperate with nuts 26 which contact a lift pad 28 of the bolster assemblies to move the bolster assemblies 14 vertically on the masts 18 to the desired position of vertical adjustment as the drive shafts 22 are rotated.

As best seen in FIGS. 2, 3 and 4, each bolster assembly 14 includes an outer beam or bolster 30 and an inner beam or bolster 32 substantially normal to the center line of the vehicle body 10. The beams are secured to a mast collar 34 and to each other by a web plate 36. The outer and inner beams are also connected to each other by a pair of inter-coastalbeams 38 positioned between the collar 34 and the ends of the beams 30, 32. An end plate 40 is secured to each end of each beam 30, 32. A plurality of holes are formed in the upper surfaces of the web plate 36, inter-coastal beam 38, inner and outer beam 30, 32 and the end plates 40 for securing the bolster assembly 14 to the vehicle body.

Each mast collar 34 includes a center tube section 42 having a pair of upper ring reinforcement flanges 44,

46' and a lower ring reinforcement 48.

The reinforcement flanges 44, 46, web plate 36 and lower reinforcement ring 48 are spaced from the mast collar 34 in the plane of the outer beam 30 and connected to each other by plate members 50 for providing a tunnel passage 52 through which the drive shaft 22 extends and allows the bolster assembly to move relative the drive shaft during rotation of the drive shaft.

The entire loading of the bolster assembly 14 is supported on the outer beam 30 through the lift pad 28 contact with ball nut 26. To help support the load on the outer beam 30, reinforcement members 54 are secured between the flanges 56, 58'of the. I shaped outer beam 30. The inner beam 32 is Z shaped with the upper portion 60 of the Z in the same plane as the upper flange 56 at the outer beam 30 and web plate 36 for receiving and supporting the vehicle body 10 thereon.

Lateral and longitudinal stability of the bolster assembly is maintained by a pair of upper roller assemblies 62, 64 and four lower roller assemblies 66, 68, 70, 72, as best seen in FIGS. 5, 6 and 7. Each roller assembly includes a roller 74 mounted on a shaft 76 with the axis of rotation being through the center of the shaft and with each end of the shaft joumalled in a bearing 78. The bearing 78 is mounted to the outer surface of the center tube section 42 by bolts 80. The roller 74 of each roller assembly extends through an aperture 62a, 64a, 66a, 70a and 72a of the center tube section 42 and contacts the mast 18 for maintaining the bolster in a spaced relation to the mast.

As the bolster assembly 14 is moved along the mast 18 by rotation of the drive shaft 22, the upper roller assemblies 62, 64 have their axis of rotation parallel to the center line of the vehicle body and maintain lateral stability for the bolster assembly and lower roller assemblies acting in pairs 66, 70 and 68, 72 also assist in providing lateral stability. Longitudinal stability is provided by the lower roller assemblies acting as pair 66, 68 and 70, 72. Longitudinal stability is only provided by the lower roller pairs, thus allowing the vehicle body to flex along the longitudinal axis during loading without imposing a load on the mast in the plane of the upper roller assemblies 62, 64. Thus, as the bolster assembly 14 moves along the mast 18 or is stopped at any position therealong, the roller assemblies provide lateral and longitudinal stability relative to the mast for the bolster assembly and any load supported thereby.

What is claimed is:

1. A vehicle bolster assembly adapted to support a vehicle body on a lifting post, including:

' a. a vertically disposed and generally hollow mast collar having two sets of rollers mounted on the walls thereof,

b. one of said roller sets being an upper set and dinal axis of said mast collar,

c. said two upper rollers being on an axis substantially parallel to said bolster element. 2. The assembly of claim 1 wherein,

v a.said mast collar is positioned midway of said elongated bolster. v 3. The assembly of claim 2 including a second bolster assembly, identical to the first bolster assembly, each said assembly mounted around and slidable on a vertical mast whose lower ends are connected to, respectively, the ends of a horizontal beam, with the two i bolster. elements positioned inthe same horizontal I plane. 4. The assembly of claim 3 wherein the number of rollers in said lower roller set is greater than the number of rollers in said upper roller set.

5. The assembly of claim 4 wherein the rollers in said I lower set are uniformly'circumferentially spaced. g

I 6. The assembly of claim 5 wherein there are four rollers in said lower set, said four rollers each displaced 45 from the rollers in said upper set.

. 7. The assembly of claim 2 including: 1 a. a hollow tunnel passage member mounted adjacent to and parallel to said mast collar,

passage,

c. a lift nut bearingtly engaging said lift pad, the axis of said nut being coincident with the axis of said tunnel passage.

8. The assembly of claim 3wherein masts are circular in crossssection.

said vertical 9. The assembly .of claim 7 wherein said vertical I 1 masts are circular in cross-section. 4

10. The assembly. of claim 2 wherein said lowerrolle set lies substantially within theplane of said bolster element.

airraa r b. a lift pad secured to the bottom of said tunnel.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE D v CERTIFICATE OF CORRECTION Patent No. 3,685,796 Dated August 22,1972

Inventor-(s) Walter Egg I.

It is certified that error appears in the above-identified patent and that said Letters Patent are hereby corrected as. shown below:

Assignee: Boothe Airs ids Servioe's, Inc. San, Francisco, California Signed and seal-ed this 22nd day of May 1973.

(SEAL) Attest:

EDWARD M.FLETCHER,JR.

' Commissioner of Patents FORM PO-105O (10-69) USCQMM-DC; 60376-P69 2 us. GOVERNMENT Hzmi'mc OFFICE 1969 O-3663 3l, 

1. A vehicle bolster assembly adapted to support a vehicle body on a lifting post, including: a. a vertically disposed and generally hollow mast collar having two sets of rollers mounted on the walls thereof, b. one of said roller sets being an upper set and defined by two rollers, c. the other of said roller sets being a lower set and having plural rollers, d. vehicle support means secured to said mast collar and in the form of an elongated bolster element which extends laterally outwardly from said mast collar in directions at right angles to the longitudinal axis of said mast collar, e. said two upper rollers being on an axis substantially parallel to said bolster element.
 2. The assembly of claim 1 wherein, a. said mast collar is positioned midway of said elongated bolster.
 3. The Assembly of claim 2 including a second bolster assembly, identical to the first bolster assembly, each said assembly mounted around and slidable on a vertical mast whose lower ends are connected to, respectively, the ends of a horizontal beam, with the two bolster elements positioned in the same horizontal plane.
 4. The assembly of claim 3 wherein the number of rollers in said lower roller set is greater than the number of rollers in said upper roller set.
 5. The assembly of claim 4 wherein the rollers in said lower set are uniformly circumferentially spaced.
 6. The assembly of claim 5 wherein there are four rollers in said lower set, said four rollers each displaced 45* from the rollers in said upper set.
 7. The assembly of claim 2 including: a. a hollow tunnel passage member mounted adjacent to and parallel to said mast collar, b. a lift pad secured to the bottom of said tunnel passage, c. a lift nut bearingtly engaging said lift pad, the axis of said nut being coincident with the axis of said tunnel passage.
 8. The assembly of claim 3 wherein said vertical masts are circular in cross-section.
 9. The assembly of claim 7 wherein said vertical masts are circular in cross-section.
 10. The assembly of claim 2 wherein said lower roller set lies substantially within the plane of said bolster element. 